SONNETS OF WORLD WAR I: CONTENT VERSUS FORM

World war i is one of the deadliest wars that humankind has experienced, and the devastating effect of this war gave birth to a new genre called trench poetry, where, ironically, there were countless gifted poets who found a ground on which to reflect their observations through poetry. naturally, their poetry included patriotism, nationalism, religion, and the terror of war. the terror and misery inflicted on soldiers, cities, and towns by the war found ample space in the imagery of the poems written during those years. yet the number of sonnets written during those years is very limited. the written ones mostly dealt with the agonies of soldiers and those who are left at home. within the scope of this discussion, this article examines several sonnets written by both famous and lesser poets, including female poet may herschel-clarke and her attitude towards war and its consequences. also examined are sonnets by various poets in terms of content and form employed to increase the effect of irony. a love poem, for example, serves to delineate bitter feelings felt in the face of a devastating war. on the whole, these war poets draw a very different picture of war, patriotism, and sacrifice. some were even taken to task by other war poets for what they had written. rupert brooke, for instance, had seen very little of the devastation and received bitter criticisms from poets like sorley, owen, sassoon, and herschel-clarke.